Steve Jobs Defends New iTunes 10 Icon Against Criticism

145454 itunes 10 icon

With the release of iTunes 10 on Wednesday, Apple has revamped the application's icon for the first time in many years, doing away with the traditional design of music notes on top of a CD. Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced the change at Wednesday's media event, noting that with iTunes likely to surpass physical CD sales sometime next year, it was time to remove the CD from the icon. The icon change has caused mixed responses, however, with some users appreciating the simplified design while others have criticized it as amateurish in appearance.

Wired reports that one user sent Jobs an email criticizing the new logo for its design and abandonment of the iTunes brand that has developed over the years.

Steve,

Enjoyed the presentation today. But...this new iTunes logo really sucks. You're taking 10+ years of instant product recognition and replacing it with an unknown. Let's both cross our fingers on this...

Despite all of the activity surrounding the media event, Jobs took the time to respond with another one of his brief, to-the-point emails:

We disagree.

Sent from my iPhone

While Jobs obviously provided no additional thoughts on why Apple prefers the icon design over the old one, it's clear that he is taking in users' comments and taking the time to respond rather than simply ignoring the feedback entirely.

The new icon is not the only visual tweak included in iTunes 10, as Apple also took the opportunity to move the "stoplight" buttons for closing and resizing the application's window into a space-saving vertical orientation from the standard horizontal orientation. The company also switched to a a more subdued, grayscale pattern for items in the application's left sidebar.

Related Forum: Mac Apps

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Top Rated Comments

SeaFox Avatar
185 months ago
Why is this thread still going? :confused:
Because MacRumors doesn't have a policy to deal with "Necrobumping" threads on the forum it seems, which is generally fixed by moderators by

[LIST=1]
* warning users who do it, especially with posting going off-topic and
* locking the thread to prevent further replies if it continues

Reasons they don't have a policy are probably


* it's extra work for the staff and makes the forum seem more "draconian" in its administration and
* people coming back to the forums causes more ad impressions which makes more money
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
iRobby Avatar
185 months ago
Anyone notice how two of the stories with "Steve Jobs" in the title seem to be immortal? It's neat. May this thread live long and prosper, and may I direct some of you to the thread "Steve Jobs suggests blu-ray not coming to mac anytime soon" for another thread full of people arguing about the same **** over and over and over and over. I really shouldn't feed these types of threads, but I too would be sad if this thread were to die. :(
Long Live the King! Stevo!!!:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

But seriously, I like the new icon vs the old one I agree old one was outdated.

I do have one complaint as far as iTunes logos go:

the purple iTunes App logo used on IOS devices is horrendous. They should make the App icon logo look more like the regular logo.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
reubs Avatar
185 months ago
Post removed.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
dakwar Avatar
185 months ago
I do the same with Chrome since they're both round on my system. I'd change the iTunes icon, but then I have to give it permission to connect every time.

The trouble is they're all round and blue. App Store, iDVD, iTunes, QuickTime Player, Safari, with iTunes and Safari being most similar at first glance AND the two icons I need to click most often.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
reubs Avatar
186 months ago
7 months on and I'm still clicking the safari icon when i mean to click itunes. :(

I do the same with Chrome since they're both round on my system. I'd change the iTunes icon, but then I have to give it permission to connect every time.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
dakwar Avatar
186 months ago
7 months on and I'm still clicking the safari icon when i mean to click itunes. :(
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)